Ted Stroll tells another Maah Daah Hey Trail Lie.

You'd think Ted Stroll would shy away from writing about the Maah Daah Hey Trail after in a previous blog, I showed everyone that he didn't know what he was talking about.  That blog is located here: http://preservingthepct.blogspot.com/2017/10/ted-stroll-tells-another-little-fib.html

That blog post shows that Ted Stroll provided the incorrect information and exaggerated about the MDHT in an interview with the Frontlines Podcast.  But now, Ted doubles down on his lies, in of all places his testimony to the US House of Representatives Federal Lands Subcommittee

Ted writes

Ted laments that you cannot carry your bikes on the Wilderness part of the trail, then he seems to indicate that if you ride your bike using Theodore Roosevelt National Park roads, it is very dangerous.  He says that "cyclist have to truncate their once-in-a-lifetime adventure and risk their safety in the bargain..."

Ted seems to think that you need to use these dangerous roads to detour around the Wilderness.  This is totally not the case.  Ted is taking text from two different things and putting them together.

I have taken a screenshot of from the Maah Daah Hey Trail Website map.  I added green shading to show the area of the Northern Unit of the Theodore Roosevelt National Park.  Using a thick black line, I show the route of the detour that is described on the Maah Daah Hey Trail Association Website.

You can see clearly that the detour around the Wilderness Area IS NOT using the dangerous roads that the National Park Service described within the park.  In fact, the whole detour is outside of the park.  The detour goes down a lonely gravel road for 5 miles, then goes on a paved State Highway for one mile, then goes done another lonely gravel road for another 5 miles.

Again, clearly Ted Stroll got it wrong.

And he keeps getting it wrong.

Ted writes

In this paragraph is gleaming that the Park Superintendent (local land manager) should have the power to allow mountain biking in the Theodore Roosevelt Wilderness if she wants to. But will she want to?

Ted goes on to write that a local observer has reported the segment in the Northern Unit of the Park hasn't been maintained for over 4 years.   Sounds like Ted is BASHING the local land manager for not having the trail cleared.  I'm sure the Park Superintendent is SUPER THRILLED this is being reported to Congress.

Jackalopes are rarely seen in the Wild

Some Unnamed Mythical Local Observer reports the trail has not been maintain for 4 years, and Ted is using it in his testimony to Congress.  How bad is that?  Who is this Unnamed Mythical Observer.  Perhaps it is the same person who saw a Jackalope in the Wilderness part of the park.

For one thing, that local observer may not know that Trails in Wilderness Areas must be minimally maintained.  Maintainers cannot mow the trail because motorized equipment is not allowed in Wilderness Areas.  All of that may have lead the local observer to believe the trail in the Wilderness Area had not been maintained.

Ted Stroll just gave a black eye to the very Park Superintendent that he hopes will allow mountain bikes in that Wilderness Area if HR1347 is passed by Congress.  Good luck with that.

No wonder the International Mountain Biking Association has dropped its support of the Sustainable Trails Coalition Bill.  IMBA has worked hard to make great relationships with land managers, and here comes STC bashing those same land managers.

Like I've said before, all STC is doing is hurting the sport of mountain biking. 


Ted's written testimony to the Federal Lands Subcommittee
https://naturalresources.house.gov/uploadedfiles/testimony_stroll.pdf

IMBA's Testimony not supporting the STC Bill is located here:
https://www.imba.com/sites/default/files/HR1349_IMBA-Testimony_12-6-17.pdf

 

5 Places Where Ted Stroll's Testimony to Congress is wrong.

On Thursday, December 7, 2017, the House of Representatives Subcommittee on Federal Lands had a hearing about HR1349, the Bill that will allow mountain bikes in Wilderness Areas.  Ted Stroll of the Sustainable Trails Coalition submitted a written testimony in advance of this hearing.  At this time I am going to point out a few thing where Ted's testimony is wrong.  Places where he is misleading, exaggerating, or just plain making up stuff.  There is a link to Ted's Testimony at the end of this post. And just to be clear, this is responding to Ted's and STC's written testimony that he submitted before the hearing.  There are more things wrong with his actual testimony before the committee

Here's the first thing

Mechanized Conveyances
Ted writes: 

Really, the Act was meant to forbid people from using stuff like wagons and ski lifts, but somehow doesn't also cover mountain bikes.  A wagon is basically a metal structure connected to some wheels, but wait a minute, so are mountain bikes.  Take a look at this quote from Congressman Compton White Jr at the hearings for the Wilderness Act in 1964

Representative White seems to think according to the Act, Wilderness Areas should only be accessed by foot or horseback.  Sounds like Congress did mean to forbid everything except people on foot or horseback.

Purity Doctrine
Ted Writes:

Did you notice in the quote it said  "...permissible in wilderness areas..."  Well, Ted, Why don't you provide the whole quotes without the "..." in it.  What are you hiding.  Well, for one thing, the whole paragraph is about something different.  Morris Udall and Frank Church were complaining that the Forest Service was being too picky on what lands would be Wilderness.  This had nothing to do with bikes or any transportation in Wilderness Areas.


Forest Ranger
Then Ted goes on to write a story about a Forest Ranger

Which Mythical Forest Ranger was that?  Perhaps it the same one that saved Bugs Bunny from being shot by Elmer Fudd.  There are very few Wilderness Areas that most people would want to take their infant child into with a stroller.  And if they really wanted to take there baby there, all they need is a baby backpack.  Not having strollers in Wilderness Areas is not the end of the world for parents with babies.   But anyway, it was an entertaining story, Ted.  Next time when you quote a Forest Ranger, try to get her name.

Gila Wilderness
Ted writes about a story that a backpacker wrote in "The Taos News"

Well, that's nice, now let's see the real article.

You can clearly see that the article says "Deeper snow might have caused us to alter our course this time around, too"  There's a link to the article at the bottom of the blog.  And if you actually read the article it explains that the backpackers did the trip between March 14 and 18.  That's before the typical trail maintainer is out clearing the trail in the Spring.  No wonder the backpackers had overgrown trails. They had a winter's worth of downed trees on the trail that had not been cleared yet.

And here's another thing to add about the subject of clearing trails.  The Sustainable Trails Coalition keeps complaining about the conditions of trails within Wilderness Areas.  But, as far as I know, STC has NEVER sponsored a trail clearing trip, inside or outside of a Wilderness Area.

Singletracks Poll
Ted writes

Again, Ted refers to the Singletrack Poll that has proven to be faulty.  There's a link to that poll below.  And here's a screen shot of some of the comments from that article.

As you can clearly see, Singletracks did not define what Wilderness is.  Some people may think the woods on the edge of their town is wilderness.  So, should they be able to ride in the woods at the edge of town, sure.  And for most people the woods at the edge of town is a totally different thing than a Federally Designated Wilderness Area.

Ted Stroll knows that the Singletracks Survey is flawed, yet he continues to mention it.


Well, There are some more things that are wrong, but that's all the time I have for now, Seeya, Tman


Ted's Testimony
https://naturalresources.house.gov/uploadedfiles/testimony_stroll.pdf

Gila Wilderness Backpacking Story in the Taos News.
http://www.taosnews.com/stories/gila-wilderness-a-tough-but-rewarding-hike,7387

Singletracks Poll about Bikes in the Wilderness
https://www.singletracks.com/blog/trail-advocacy/96-of-mountain-bikers-think-wilderness-should-be-opened-to-bikes/